Car Seats

My husband was recently pulled over when he was driving our 4-year old son home from preschool. He was driving our vehicle of choice, the mid nineties hunter green Chevy Tahoe. The seats in the back were folded down to accommodate the latest machine we acquired. A broken brake light was the reason the police officer gave for stopping them, but the conversation ended up being about my 4-year old son sitting in the front seat. The police officer said he needed to be in the back seat, to which my husband said that it wasn't a law because it was based on height and weight requirements. Afterall, the airbag was off. The officer replied that it was safer in the back seat. My husband wisely didn't argue because no tickets were given. So on the side of the road he moved the machine around, flipped the seat up, and our son climbed into the back.

My husband is 6'8 and a slender 310 pounds. I'm 5'10 with a weight to match my big bones. Together we produce bigger than average children. My 4-year old has been called a man child and could eat most 6-year olds. Our 5-year old and 4-year old are bigger than the height and weight requirements for a car seat, and are cleared for front seat riding. However, their age makes it not acceptable.

My husbands solution to the issue is to start driving our 1966 Jeep J3000 truck with no back seat. It doesn't have air bags, and it's built like a brick shit house. I would feel more comfortable with our kids in our collection of Jeeps than a compact car.

We are responsible parents and have researched the national and individual state requirements for car seats. I did notice a pattern for the states. The less populated states have less strict requirements. The more densely populated areas have more traffic which means more probability of accidents. I also noticed some other political patterns in the states, but I won't get into it here. Iowa, being where we live, has reasonable requirements, unlike some states that have kids in car seats and the back seat until they can drive.

The commercials that advertise rear facing car seats for toddlers and beyond are a little too much. Car seat manufacturers are making a killing because what parent would sacrifice the safety of their child when they could just spend hundreds of dollars buying a car seat every other year. I don't like marketing ploys that prey on parents fears and paranoia. All three of our kids are in the appropriate car seat, but I'm still aware that accidents are inevitable.

Now go research the car seat requirements and make informed decisions, and don't judge other parents like the polite police lady.

 

 

Gender Reveal

I'm over half way through this pregnancy, which means we had the ultrasound to reveal the gender. So is it a boy or a girl? We didn't find out.

We were the only couple that didn't find out the gender during birthing class six years ago with our first pregnancy. The teacher warned us that not knowing could lead to disappointment when the baby is born. I thought the teacher was dead wrong because your more apt to be disappointed when your pregnant than when you give birth. Who could be disappointed with a newborn?

This is our fourth pregnancy, and we didn't find out the gender with any of our children. Once you know the gender then you know the name. A 3D ultrasound can show the baby's face, so where is the mystery or surprise?

As for gender reveal parties or Pinterest inspired blue or pink crafts, it's cute and fun for the day; however, it invites opinions about the  gender, name, and even the baby's personality. For example, if this baby is a boy, family and friends would predict that our only girl would be tough and spoiled. If it's a girl, she'll be the best playmate for her older sister. I'm not ready for other's opinions when I still have 19 weeks to go.

I still like predicting the gender. I usually have dreams about the baby's sex. So far my dreams have always predicted males, so I've been right the first two times and wrong the last time. What is your prediction?

 

 

Sold It!

A couple of months ago I wrote a description of our house in preparation of selling it. I even thought about blogging about it, which is what some homeowners did.

I was battling morning sickness and in the middle of painting. After all, buyers probably wouldn't be drawn to a house with a plum colored dining room. Not to mention the chipping cream colored paint on the trim. While we were preparing our house for the market, we got lucky and sold it.

Our neighbors said they had some friends that were looking to move to the area. We gave them our contact information and they called us about it. We set up a couple of times for them to come look at it, but it just didn't work out. After a couple of weeks without hearing from them, we planned to list it ourselves. So one Sunday morning when I got a message from them asking to come see the house later that day, I choked on my cereal. I ran to the shower while the boys de-toyed the house. We negotiated a price and it was their's a month later.

I dragged my feet as long as I could about moving until my husband moved our beds, dressers, TV, and a few kitchen utensils. Those first couple of days were very primitive, but my husband was right to get the ball rolling. I was dreading moving and kept putting it off. We lived in that house for ten years; we brought our babies home to it, and we fixed it up and decorated it to fit us. Leaving it also meant that we were leaving a town that I had taught in for eight years. Where our neighbors were my former students and we were within walking distance to the school and the playground. I knew we would have to move, but I was expecting a long drawn out sale process to give me time to adjust.

A friend of mine told me it must have been meant to be while another friend said how lucky we were. My husband attributed it all to karma. This helped changed my perspective, and now I'm painting the new nursery.